Create basis for fair income distribution

• Source: Global Times
• [01:15 March 03 2010]
• Comments

The necessity of equitable income distribution has been reiterated time and again in many forms – from official speeches to government reports – for many years.

2010 is no exception. The public has listed the issue as their top concern for this year's "two sessions."

But not everybody can and should receive a pay raise. Equitable income distribution is not about income increases for all. What China should do now is to distribute more justly to needier sections of the population.

In the past, public servants and soldiers have enjoyed growth in salaries. Employees of monopoly sectors have been paid far above the prevalent average. Those left behind are disadvantaged groups such as migrant workers.

Stuck in the lowest income strata, the hardest working Chinese laborers, who created the Chinese economic growth miracle, are suffering economic misery.

Expanding income inequality has diluted the objective of reform: the common goal of getting rich.

The labor shortage in the coastal industrial towns convincingly shows that these people are seeking more in return for the wealth they helped to create.

Ensuring steady wage growth is one way of bridging the income gap. Earlier this year, Jiangsu Province raised the minimum wage to 960 yuan ($140.55) per month – the first adjustment in the country in two years.

Other wealthy provinces and municipalities are reportedly following suit.

Raising the minimum wage on the eve of the "two sessions" is a guarantee that the policy would receive maximum media attention, and indeed they have won public applause.